Cleveland Clinic cutbacks: Are they really Obama's fault?

The Cleveland Clinic, the region's largest employer, announced last week that it was in the process of trimming $330 million from its budget for next year — a move that could result in an unspecified number of employee layoffs and thousands of early retirements.While the Clinic conceded the cuts were, in part, fueled by the challenges brought on by health care reform, or Obamacare, the national media clung to soundbite. Fox News went as far as asking whether the health system was a “symbol for issues with Obamacare.”Of course, the reasons for the looming layoffs at the Clinic and other hospitals across the country (and the region) are far more nuanced than just health reform. This U.S. News piece does a nice job of breaking down the myriad reasons why hospitals are cutting back.In fact, a few hospital execs blame their respective states' reluctance to expand Medicaid eligibility as a reason for the cutbacks (a product of GOP resistance). Side note: Ohio, of course, still hasn't expanded the program, though it appears Gov. Kasich could have a trick up his sleeve. The Clinic, of course, wasn't the first and won't be the last to layoff staff. Akron General and Summa have purged in recent months, with MetroHealth doing the same in recent years. And with the wave of mergers and acquisitions in the works, health care experts have told me further belt tightening could be on the horizon, especially as organizations look to meld their back-end operations.Worth noting: The hometown paper of the Clinic's latest bedfellow, Community Health Systems, took a look at whether the layoffs would impact the burgeoning partnership. The answer, of course, is “no.” The Clinic stressed the layoffs were part of a strategy to ensure the Clinic was more efficient.A Clinic spokeswoman told the paper that the partnership with the CHS should help the Clinic become even more cost-effective. The Clinic has cited CHS repeatedly as a top-flight hospital operator.“That's exactly one of the main reasons we partnered with them,” Clinic spokeswoman Eileen Sheil told the paper, adding that efficiency is not necessarily the strong suit of academic medical centers.

Working well together

Kent State University and Akron General Health System announced the two institutions have formed a collaborative for the study and promotion of wellness programs.According to a news release issued this morning, Sept. 24, the collaborative “seeks to promote physical activity and healthy lifestyles by integrating public health, basic science, and clinical and behavioral research and by developing and promoting evidence-based wellness practices.”Teams of so-called “wellness investigators” will work on research projects to develop new models of disease prevention and new technologies that support wellness and the management of chronic disease.Since at least 1996, Akron General has been a major player in the wellness space. The health system's current CEO, Dr. Thomas “Tim” Stover, help spearhead many of the initiatives. The health system operates three health and wellness centers, which blend clinical outpatient services with exercise and retail-oriented health services.

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